The opening of Fredrikstad Animation Festival 2009 was celebrated with a screening of the Swedish animated feature Metropia, voiced by Vincent Gallo and Juliette Lewis. The film was co-produced by Norwegian Tordenfilm, and was to be considered the biggest animated Nordic feature of 2009. The film was presented by director Tarik Saleh and Norwegian co-producer Eric Vogel.

Jury said: “A fun film about loss and pain with a reptile theme. The innovative animation takes the every day life to a higher level.”

LIFETIME ACHIVEMENT AWARD

Inni Karine Melbye, Norge

The board of Norsk animasjonsforum said: “As a modern Niels Klim you have explored the worlds of Nazar. You have been essential in bringing international animation to the Nordic countries and Nordic animation to the world. And your art and films have pleased us all for decades.”

BEST NORDIC-BALTIC SHORT FILM

Sinna Mann

Director: Anita Killi
Norway – 2009

Jury said: “A heavy subject told in a naive but very wise way. An important film for all ages that gives a solution.”

BEST NORDIC-BALTIC STUDENT FILM

Space Monkeys

Director: Jan Rahbek et.al. ,
Denmark – 2009

Jury said: ”Action packed, full of humor and with a warm ending. A really impressing student film!”

BEST NORDIC-BALTIC COMMISSIONED FILM

Jenkka Professional Tooth

Director: Jalmari Helander
Finland – 2009

Jury said: ”A fun and sympathetic commercial about taking care of your teeth as if they were your pets For an original idea and and good execution.”

SPECIAL MENTION

Birth

Directior: Signe Baumane
Latvia – 2009

Jury said: “Thoughts and fears of giving birth and motherhood illustrated by clever use of animation.”

Consoul

Director: Lasse Gjertsen
Norway 2009

Jury said: “Counsol deverly used the limitations and conventions of 8-bit computer games to reflect on the limitations and conventtions of life itself. Funny and poignant throughout, the film gives a new meaning to multiple lives and other dimensions.”

AUDIENCE AWARD

Sinna Mann

Director: Anita Killi
Norway – 2009

INNOVATION AWARD

Fanthomas

Produced by: Qvisten Animation
Norway -2009

Norsk Animasjonsforum said: ”A new Norwegian animated series have inspired the board of Norwegian Animation Forum to hand out an award for innovation in animation. The prize goes to Qvisten Animation for the webserie Fanthomas.”

SEMINAR

Style and design in new animation

Friday November 13th a seminar on style and design in new animation was held at Fredrikstad Kino. Key speakers were Ralph Eggleston from Pixar, ‘Metropia‘ director Tarik Saleh from Atmo, and creative director Philip Hunt of Studio AKA.

In Ralph Eggleston talk, he gave a general introduction to production design, and gave us an insight to the working process of a Pixar Animation Studios production. He used examples from various production stages from features like Finding Nemo, Wall-E and Up.

The Swedish animated feature Metropia gained a lot of attention in the animation business for its original visual style. During the seminar, director Tarik Saleh talked about the idea behind the style, and how it evolved during the design process. Metropia’s head of animation, Isak Gjertsen, gave a presentation on the new technique and software used to make the film’s original look.

Annecy-winner Philip Hunt gave an introduction to Studio AKA’s work and their way of working with production design. He presented pre-production work from some of the studio’s most important projects.

OTHER PRESENTATIONS AND WORKSHOPS

”History of Animation Through Music” by Nik Phelphs

1.5 hour presentation of animation history, from the Flesher brothers to today, with emphasis on music and sound. Musician and composer Nik Phelps showed us his take on the animation history and evolvelemt by showing clips from various films.

”///” – performance by Max Hattler & Noriko Okaku

Max Hattler and Noriko Okaku met when studying together at the Royal College of Art. Even though their work is quite different, they still have some similarities in their experimental, semi-narrative, dialogue free- take on animation.

Their newest production ”///” is a live performace, where Hattler and Okaku use a special technique using three screens. The performance had its world premiere during the festival, and was commissioned by Fredrikstad Animation Festival.

”The making of Lost and Found”

In connection to his new film Lost and Found, Philip Hund gave a presentation of the process of making the film. The film is based on Oliver Jeffers critically acclaimed children’s book by the same name.

”Ivan Maximov retrospective”

The award winning Russian animation artist Ivan Maximov presented a retrospective of his production. Live music was performed by composer Nik Phelps during the screening of Ivan’s latest film, The Additional Capabilities of the Snout.

Sneak peek: “Pelle Politibil”

The sequel to the 2002 animated feature about Pelle Politibil was presented at Fredrikstad Animation Festival 2009. The producer of Pelle Politibil går i vannet showed a sneak peek of some of the scenes from the upcoming film, and spoke about the making of the film.

Premiere: ”Animated composition” a project where music meets animation

A collaboration between Det Norske Blåseensemble and E6 Østfold Medieverksted. Five composers from Østfold were invited to partake in the project Animert komposisjon. Children from Østfold and professional animators participated in making animated music videos to the composers music.During the festival’s last day the final results were screened, accompanied by live music by the Blåseensemble.